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As spring peeked its sleep head though the last days of winter, the sun shown on the steps of the Senate Building as a group converged to demand that America fight to end slavery in its fields. Today Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin from Illinois, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John […]

According to CoalSpeak, The Official CoalRegion Dictionary, the above term refers to “tuberculosis, or some virulent strain of TB. Consumption was a common word for tuberculosis many years ago (“consuming’ the lung tissue). “Galloping’ refers to the speed at which the disease progresses.” Ironic, perhaps, that I’m using this term to illustrate one of the […]

I was sad to miss this event put on by the Center for Global Engagement in Washington, DC last week. The event featured General Anthony C. Zinni, USMC (Ret.) and Admiral Leighton W. Smith, Jr., USN (Ret.) fresh from testifying at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Capitol Hill.  According to the Center, the General and […]

Richard L. Armitage, Deputy Secretary of State during President Bush's first term, was recently  interviewed by the Washington Diplomat. Armitage  spoke about the need to repair the U.S.'s tarnished image abroad. He told the Diplomat: "The decline in American influence can be a temporary phenomenon. I believe most countries want us to be the indispensable […]

The man describing himself as the chief of operations for former Liberian President Charles Taylor, Joseph Marzah, or "Zigzag," told the United Nations-backed Special Court for the Sierra Leone that Taylor encouraged his fighters to "play with human blood." Marzah told the court about roving bands of death squads terrorizing the civilian population at checkpoints […]

America is many things, as are Americans, and our culture is as diverse as they come and when one thinks of America and our modern culture one of the things that pops into your mind is inevitably fast food. We are all touched by the reach of the fast food industry. While for some of […]

John Bolton, former Bush-appointed Ambassador to the United Nations, recently authored a book, titled Surrender Is Not An Option. The American Enterprise Institute, the conservative think tank in Washington, DC at which Bolton is a scholar, describes the book: “With no-holds-barred candor, the straight-talking former ambassador to the United Nations takes readers behind the scenes at the U.N. and […]

UCLA's Burkle Center for International Relations held a conference yesterday discussing US foreign policy and rogue states. Reviewing the list of accomplished conference speakers, I, and I'm sure my co-blogger would agree, wished the event was held in DC (yes, I see no need to hide my east coast bias). One of the speakers, Dan […]

War crimes trial of former top Croatian generals begins at U.N. tribunal 11 March 2008 , The trial of three former senior Croatian generals accused of murdering, persecuting and displacing ethnic Serbs during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s got under way at a United Nations war crimes tribunal today. Ante Gotovina, Ivan Cermak and […]

Despite international rumors and reports in the last month China's controversial one-child-per-couple law will remain in effect for at least the next decade, government officials said Monday. The Chinese governments statement ended weeks of speculation regarding the abandonment of the program to pave the way for more babies despite the largely aging population. Zhang Weiqing, […]

Tired of all the other reasons to give to charity, how about avoiding eternal damnation?

There's a nice series of comments in today's Guardian from farmers in Costa Rica, Kenya, and Mali praising Fairtrade, and identifying it as a positive force in their lives.